Monkey.co.uk hauled in $22,400 this month

What a huge month for reported domain name sales. There were at least six, six figure sales, along with countless names changing hands in the high five figures.

It’s amazing to see the general public’s knowledge and understanding of the value of great domain names grow at an exponential rate. There’s no doubt internet real estate is booming.

Join us as we take a look at some of the top grossing and most obscure domain sales of the month of October.

Courtesy of Philips

The light bulb, a modern marvel, has become bland and underappreciated. How did we let this happen? What can we do to bring that spark back?

Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd.

If you felt a disturbance in the force today, now you know why.

Two of the most iconic movie franchises in the world exchanged hands today when George Lucas, founder of Lucasfilm Limited, sold the company, along with the rights to both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises to the Walt Disney Company for $4.05 Billion in cash and stock.

Star Wars diehards can take solace in the fact that George Lucas will remain onboard as a creative consultant, as well as the fact that the storyline for the new trilogy, Episode 7 and beyond, was actually drafted by Lucas himself.

Via PropheticAlert

It’s the eternal debate; where does the human soul go after we die? This isn’t about religious denominations, this is about the two main contingencies on the matter. Do we go to Heaven or Hell, or is life a random occurrence that took billions of years to manifest?

Via Darpa.Mil

Functional electronic devices that can dissolve in water or other fluids at a set point in time offer up a myriad of possibilities to the world.

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has funded a successful study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, Tufts University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that showcased the feasibility of dissolvable or transient electronics to the world. How we can use this technology in the real world is where things get interesting.

Mitt Romney hopes to become the 45th President of the United States of America, and is locked in a heated battle with incumbent President Barack Obama. Despite being a prominent national figure, much of who Mitt Romney is remains a mystery. For your reading pleasure, here’s 10 astounding, unknown facts about Mr. Romney.

Via Boston.com

With the 2012 Presidential Election in full swing, it’s only fitting that we learn some obscure, lesser known facts about the candidates. Today we’ll review some unknown facts about President Barack Obama, and tomorrow, we’ll look at his challenger Willard “Mitt” Romney.

IC 1101

And you thought Felix Baumgartner’s stratospheric leap made you feel small.

We’re discovering incredible facts about the universe seemingly everyday. We think the universe is 13.7 billions years old and it is currently expanding. There are theories that the universe could be infinite, and theories that there could be multiple universes. For our purposes today, we’re going to stick with just the facts, and talk a little bit about the largest galaxy known to man, the creatively named IC 1101!

Credit: Rick English

The possibilities for 3D printing are seemingly only inhibited by our imaginations. 3D printed instruments are a great example of that.

Though electric guitars have been printed within the last year, the world’s first 3D printed acoustic guitar was recently unveiled, providing an impressive solution to a daunting challenge.

With a sleek design, the 3D printed guitar was assembled from assorted custom printed parts. A company called 3D Systems printed intricate musical pieces out of a number of different materials including stainless steel, sterling sliver, and plastic.

Courtesy of Red Bull Stratos

Earlier this year, Astounde speculated that space skydiving could be the next frontier in extreme sports. If that’s going to be the case, then today represents the biggest hurdle and largest milestone towards that end.

Today, in an event sponsored by Red Bull (who else?), Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner is set to hurdle himself towards the earth from over 20 miles up, breaking the speed of sound in the process.